It's a Love Story, Baby Just Say Yes
by bubbleteadesu
Summary: Gakuen!AU, Greece/fem!Japan; Otaku!Kiku finds that her life starts to resemble a shoujo manga when she meets Herakles. -full summary inside


**Title: **It's a Love Story (Baby, Just Say Yes)  
><strong>Author:<strong> bubbleteadesu  
><strong>CharactersPairing:** Greece/fem!Japan  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K+  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Gakuen!AU (human names used); Heracles Karpusi was Greek and broad shoulders that looked like they could carry the world and lazy curls that fell over his face, but not over his olive eyes, eyes that were anything but lazy. (And he was making Kiku doubt just how fictional fiction was.)  
><strong>Warning:<strong> cliches all around, so cheesy it hurts, Taylor Swift song as title?, probably OOC characters  
><strong>AN: <strong>written for the giripan Valentine's Love Fest over at livejournal. Prompt was: __Greece/fem!Japan, Gakuen AU, Otaku!Kiku finds that her life starts to resemble a shoujo manga when she meets Herakles_. _I wrote this hoping it would have a shoujo-manga-feel to it, so yeah romantic cliches all over XD. I love them cliches though and I hope you enjoy them and this story too Also, this has nyo!Japan, despite her name still being Kiku :3.  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I do not own Hetalia.

* * *

><p><strong><em>i. new boy<em>**

"My name is Heracles Karpusi, and it's nice to meet you all."

Heracles Karpusi was Greek and broad shoulders that looked like they could carry the world and lazy curls that fell over his face, but not over his olive eyes, eyes that were anything but lazy.

Kiku drew circles all over her sketchpad, taking pains not to leave any empty space. She knew it was rude not to look at a person when he was talking, especially when he was taking the time to introduce himself to you—_even if he was not exactly just talking to you but to a class of thirty_—and it was making her uncomfortable. She did not like being rude; respect was naturally ingrained in her system. But she had tried, she had tried to listen and look him directly in his big eyes, and he had looked back at her intently, like he was only talking to her and no one else, waiting for her opinion alone and nothing else.

And then her heart had decided to jump to her throat and drop back to the pit of her stomach in one swift motion.

"I hope we can all be friends."

Kiku thought back to lazy Sunday mornings, lying on her bed and reading manga with sparkling covers and well-creased hot pink binding. She remembered how it was always the new boy. That is if it weren't the childhood friend who had gone away for what seemed like forever, only to suddenly return after an awfully long time to mess with the heroine's head (and heart) just when she thought she had finally gotten over him, or the delinquent who liked hanging out on school rooftops and who, strangely enough, can never stand up to that short girl who may be lacking in chest size but not in attitude.

But sometimes, it was the new boy who made the heroine go red 'til the tips of her hair and made her heart shoot up and out to the sky.

Kiku slammed her sketchbook shut, suddenly scared that someone was reading her thoughts—_one could never be sure about the existence of telepaths_—and at that same moment, she heard her homeroom teacher say, "Heracles, you can go sit over there behind Kiku Honda."

Kiku opened her sketchpad, pretended that a page filled with circles and squiggles was more interesting that the new student who now walked past her—_and who had possibly given her a small smile as he walked by_—and was now noisily settling in in the seat behind hers.

She thought back to lazy Sunday mornings and shoujo manga and how it was always the new boy.

But then, this was real life.

* * *

><p><strong><em>ii. stray cat<em>**

"Is that…is that your cat?"

The silliness of her words struck Kiku as soon as they left her mouth. That cat was obviously not anybody's. It had all the markings of a stray: a gaunt body barely covered by thin fur, now sticking up in all directions because of the rain and the humidity, and a pair of different colored eyes—one green and one blue—that had just a trace of wildness in them.

But it seemed that Heracles had tamed the cat with kindness. The cat purred against Heracles' hand as Heracles scratched the back of its ears, as if it had been domestic all its life.

The rain fell all around Kiku and Heracles and the cat in sheets, cold wet needles from the thick gray sky, sharp against Kiku's skin. Heracles had given his umbrella to the cat, and while the cat sat underneath the clear plastic umbrella in relative dryness, Heracles squatted beside it, soaking wet. Raindrops slid down his curls and dropped over his eyes, and his uniform clung wetly to him, tracing skin and sculpted muscles in a way that should be made illegal, if only for how hot it was making Kiku feel, wet from the rain that she was.

So hot and bothered that she had forgotten she had left a question hanging still in the cold watery air between them, not until Heracles finally answered it.

"No, he's not mine. Though I don't think he's anybody's actually." Though Heracles continued to face the cat, Kiku could still see the corners of his mouth—well, at least one corner—turn up slightly in a small smile.

Kiku continued to watch Heracles and the purring cat and the way two distinct curls of his hair stuck out on top of Heracles' head and formed a pseudo-heart, and how his uniform became almost transparent due to the rain, showing smooth lines and fluid strokes and muscles and sinews that looked like they have been sculpted from out of marble—_maybe Heracles was the son of a Greek god, sent down to Earth to learn the ways of the mortals but strictly forbidden to fall in love with one_—before she realized that _maybe_, instead of thinking of new manga plotlines, she should offer her umbrella to Heracles instead.

So Kiku scooted as inconspicuously as she could towards Heracles, stopping when she was at least an arm's length away from him. She held out her umbrella over his head, biting in a soft gasp of surprise as freezing rain suddenly poured over her upon the disappearance of her umbrella's protection. She could feel her uniform starting to get soaked, her blouse clinging uncomfortably to her skin. She wondered if her blouse was turning transparent too, and if she should feel embarrassed about it—after all, her mother had always said she was as flat as an ironing board anyways.

Heracles looked up at her, then at the baby pink umbrella now covering his head, shielding him from the weather. Then he looked up at Kiku again, his eyes, which had been wide-eyed in surprise, slowly crinkling at the corners, his mouth forming a lopsided smile.

"You don't have to stand so far from me," he told her, amusement playing in his voice.

Kiku looked away, slowly turning red. "No, it's alright! I'm fine where I am—_Oh_!"

She let out a soft gasp as Heracles suddenly reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Startled, Kiku accidentally threw her umbrella backwards—she heard it land with a splash a few inches behind them— and the raindrops playing in Heracles' curls appeared again.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, bowing to Heracles repeatedly. "I shouldn't have let go of the umbrella." She made to stand up. "I should get it-"

To her surprise, she felt a cold wet hand wrap around her wrist—she secretly wondered how long it would take before her heart gave up jumping around so wildly inside her. Heracles looked into her eyes intently, and Kiku swallowed thickly, her cheeks burning hotter and hotter by the minute. "Come back," he said simply, and she nodded mutely before standing up, free from his grasp, and picked up her upturned umbrella.

She returned quickly, and Heracles pulled her down beside him again—this time, Kiku managed to keep enough wits with her to remember not to let go of her umbrella. They squatted close to each other, Kiku holding up the umbrella that barely covered the two of them and Heracles sitting beside her, his hand lightly placed on her wrist. Kiku could feel her heart constrict painfully inside her, beating deafeningly, growing larger than life, squeezing the air out of her lungs, and she feared that she may have forgotten how to breathe.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Heracles suddenly murmured. He let go of Kiku's hand—it was as if he only wanted to make sure she wouldn't stand off at a distance again—and began to pat the cat again. The cat purred happily at the return of attention.

Kiku took a deep breath—_it felt good to feel air in her lungs again_—before replying. "I don't know how to start conversations," she admitted.

Heracles smiled. "Let me start them then."

Kiku smiled back, relaxed. "I wouldn't mind that."

"Hmmm," Heracles paused thoughtfully before continuing, "Well first, what would you like to name our cat?"

_Our cat_. Kiku couldn't help noting with surprise. But Heracles continued to smile back at her, waiting, and she realized it was no mistake.

She let her smile grow a little wider.

* * *

><p><strong><em>iii. partners<em>**

"Here you go, Ame-kun."

Kiku dropped a piece of tofu from her lunch in front of the cat, who immediately pounced on it. She watched in amusement as he rolled it back and forth between his paws for a while before finally eating it.

Kiku took a bite of her own food too, as Ame-kun rubbed his head against her leg, probably waiting for more tasty morsels. She would never have thought that there would come a time in her high school life when she would be spending her lunch breaks on the school rooftop, with a once-stray cat begging for her attention and a rather handsome student taking a nap quietly behind her. For one, she had always thought school rooftops were delinquents' territory—it was why she avoided the area, though now that she thought more about it, there weren't really that many delinquents in her school. But Heracles was definitely no delinquent, and yet he had claimed the rooftop as his home turf.

_Sometimes, he's just like a cat, claiming strange territories as his own_, she couldn't help thinking affectionately. She suddenly felt embarrassed at the thought—how silly to think of a person as a cat!—and a little guiltily, she glanced back at Heracles. To her relief, he hadn't woken up yet from his nap.

Carefully, she crawled towards him, inch by slow inch, stopping every now and then with bated breath to see if she had woken him up. But Heracles continued to sleep, even when Kiku finally reached him, sitting so close to him that she could now watch how his shirt rose up and down slowly, in time with his relaxed breathing, how his eyelashes fluttered prettily against his eyelids, and how his mouth would curl up just the tiniest bit at, perhaps, a happy dream. Impulsively, Kiku ran a hand over Heracles' hair, sweeping off some of the curls that covered his eyes.

And that was when Heracles suddenly woke up.

Kiku pulled her hand back immediately, her heart ringing loudly in her ears. "I-I'm sorry!" she stammered out. "I shouldn't have—It was so forward of me—I—"

"No, it's fine. Don't worry." Heracles stretched his arms up and let out a long and sleepy yawn. He looked at Kiku afterwards—_his eyes still drooped down a little sleepily; maybe she had woken him up?_. "I was just thinking, why did you name the cat Ame?"

Kiku relaxed at the question, though her hands continued to shake slightly and her face still felt very much warm. "Ame means rain in Japanese and, well, you did find the cat in the rain, didn't you?"

Heracles paused in the middle of rubbing the sleep off his eyes at her words; she could see he was running her words through his mind again in that lazily thoughtful way of his, considering every nuance of it. Finally he said, "I have another question, Kiku, if you don't mind."

Kiku retreated back to her abandoned bento as inconspicuously as she could, before Ame could devour all its contents. "What is it, Heracles-san?"

"Would you like to be my partner?"

Kiku dropped her lunch then, spilling its tasty contents all over the concrete floor, to Ame-the-cat's delight. She placed a shaking hand on her chest; sure enough, her heart was doing that strange jumpy sort of dance again. She opened her mouth, tried to say something but gave up on it quickly—her throat suddenly felt very dry.

_Partners? Partners! Like…boyfriend-girlfriend!_

But, it was too early for this sort of thing! Hadn't they only known each other for a little over a month? It was definitely too early for these sort of things—things only worked this fast in shoujo manga, but not in real life! But then, Heracles was European, maybe it was their custom to be this hasty? Maybe—

"Kiku?" Heracles asked, slightly confused. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes!" Kiku replied a little too quickly, her voice rising a little higher than usual to her embarrassment. "You asked if we…if we could be partners, right?"

"Right." Heracles nodded slowly, still looking a little unconvinced. "We have a Physics project that's going to be long-term, and we all need a partner for it, right? I was wondering if you didn't have a partner yet. Though of course, if you already have, I understand."

Oh. _Oh_. Relief flooded Kiku, quickly replacing the panic she had felt earlier. She tried to salvage whatever lunch Ame-kun still hadn't eaten from the floor—though there really wasn't much left, and honestly she just needed something to busy her still-shaking hands with, to allow her burning face to cool down a bit. "Of course, that's fine with me. That is, if you really want me as your partner, Heracles-san. I'm afraid I'm not that good."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine." Heracles said, his smile growing a little wider. Kiku gave up hoping her heart would stop doing somersaults at the sight, inconvenient though they are.

"Well, I guess we should head back then." Heracles stood up and dusted himself off. "We'll be late for class if we don't hurry."

Kiku waited before following him though, watched his retreating back for a while. _Partners_. How silly of her to think he had meant something else, _something deeper_. Shaking her head at herself, Kiku stood up and followed Heracles out of the door.

* * *

><p><strong><em>iv. locked<em>**

"I didn't know this room locked from the outside."

Kiku shrugged, and bumped her shoulders against Heracles in the process. She gave Heracles an apologetic look. "Well, it is a supplies room so they figured people would be outside the room when they want it locked, not inside."

With her perfectionist manner regarding tidiness and Heracles', _ahem_, slow careful attitude towards activities, it took them quite a long time to finish their cleaning duties. A little too long it seemed, because when they had finally finished arranging the cleaning implements they had used in the supply room and were all ready to leave, they realized that they, in fact, could not.

Kiku had texted some of her friends a few moments ago, and now there was nothing to do but wait and hope that one of them was still in school and able to help them out of their situation.

Kiku stretched her legs out in front of her. The supply room of their school wasn't just a cabinet pretending to be a room—it was literally a room, thankfully. It meant that she and Heracles both had space to stretch, though it wasn't as big as, say, their classroom. It was small enough for them to circle it a lot of times in only a few minutes, maybe even seconds (okay, maybe not).

Not that they were that bored to try it just yet. Heracles didn't seem to mind staying still and quiet for a while—it was what he usually did anyways. Kiku just hoped he didn't have to do it so close to her. So close that she could not move without bumping against his broad shoulders, could not turn for fear that she might end up having his face only a few inches away from her, and hadn't she read enough manga to know what happened after that? (_I think we're too close, senpai. I've always wanted to kiss you, if you don't mind. S-senpai!_)

Kiku felt Heracles shift beside her, and she felt her heart jump up to her throat.

"Kiku?"

"Y-yes?"

Heracles stretched his legs in front of him as well. "Well, it seems we're going be staying here for a while."

Kiku nodded slowly. "Yes, I think so too."

Heracles ran a hand through his hair, looking almost sheepish. "Well, do you want to talk about anything?"

Kiku bit her lip and thought carefully for a while. Finally, she realized that she had been thinking for an embarrassingly long time, and so she shook her head in the negative. "I'm sorry Heracles-san, but I'm really bad at thinking of conversation starters."

Heracles laughed softly at that. "No, I don't mind thinking of one." He paused then, looking deep in thought, with the lines of his forehead slightly creased—_but then, didn't he always look like that?_. Finally, he said, "Kiku, do you ever get mad?"

_Ever get mad?_It was a strange question, but then Kiku never really understood what went on in Heracles' mind, especially when he just sat quietly in the seat behind hers, looking out the window but not exactly seeing any of the noisy kids playing ball, or the sports teams going about their training. No, because his mind was always someplace else and when it was, his face would always melt and grow soft around the edges, charcoal strokes instead of hard pencil lines. And it was times like that that Kiku wished she could get the courage to pull out her sketchbook and just draw him.

She realized she had gone off on some internal tangent again, and she reddened at the thought. But Heracles continued to sit and wait patiently beside her, his eyes taking on that far-off look again, his face softening around the edges, his mouth curling up into a small smile. She could watch him go off on some thought train she could not hope to catch for a while—_a long long while_, but he had left a question hanging between them, and it was rude not to answer it.

So she thought hard, thought of the times when Ame-kun would accidentally overturn her lunch so it spilled in front of him and he could eat it all up—_such a naughty cat but it was difficult to stay mad at such an adorable creature for any more than ten seconds_—or that time she had lent several of her manga—even a whole series at that— to her cousin who had conveniently only remembered about them when she was already out of the country and on a flight back home—but then, she was slightly at fault there too, because she had always felt too embarrassed to bring up the topic until it was too late so she couldn't stay mad, not for more than a few days at least.

_Or remember that time you waited for Heracles at the rooftop as you always did every lunch break but he never appeared, and you found out a few moments later that he had been offered lunch at the cafeteria by several girls your senior, and so had gone off with them? And you thought, but he is just like a cat, and a cat goes where there is food, and come to think of it, you've never seen him eat during lunch have you?_

(But it still burned, the image still burned inside of you. And your heart did that jumpy sort of dance again, but somehow it felt different. It definitely felt different.)

Kiku silently fumed at the memory, but no, she could not exactly answer that, could she? Heracles would definitely think her odd, well, at least even more odd than usual. Who was she really, to get mad at such things—

"Kiku."

Kiku jumped in her seat, startled out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry. I took too much time in thinking, did I?" she murmured apologetically.

"No, it's alright. I just thought you look cute when you're thinking so hard." And even before Kiku's mind could fully process that statement—_did he just call her cute_—she felt Heracles shift against her, bumping his shoulders against hers.

And then he bent forward and kissed her on the cheek.

And she could do nothing but freeze afterwards, even when Heracles finally moved away. Even when the door finally opened and an angry looking janitor scolded them and told them to 'get a room geez what has our youth gone to'. She could do nothing but think of how his curls had tickled her cheeks, felt soft against her skin. Could think of nothing but his scent, fresh and clean and cool like a sea breeze. Of nothing but his lips, so soft and warm—_so lovely_— against her burning skin.

And then Heracles stood up and held his hand out to her. "Let's go, Kiku?"

But even when she had taken his hand, even when she was on her way home, swinging her bag on one hand and guiding her bicycle along with the other—she didn't think she was fit enough to ride the thing in her current state—she could not think of anything else but these things.

_You look cute when you're thinking so hard._

* * *

><p><strong><em>v. fireworks<em>**

"Are you ready, Kiku?"

Kiku smoothed out her kimono fussily. She fixed and straightened the ivory hairpin that stood out sharply against her brown hair for the nth time. Then she stood up straight and scrutinized herself in the mirror. She allowed herself a smile. She didn't think she could ever look pretty but she looked rather nice tonight, she had to admit.

"Your friend Heracles is here already!"

"I'm coming, mama!"

. . .

"Are you sure it's alright for you to be celebrating the New Year with me, Heracles-san?" Kiku asked with a smile. They now walked by the river bank, looking for a place with a clear view of the night sky. The annual New Year's Eve fireworks would be starting soon.

Heracles shrugged. "It doesn't really matter with my parents. Besides, is it alright with _your_parents?"

"It's fine with them." Both of them stopped to glance up at the sky; the stars shone brightly back down at them. Kiku sat down beside Heracles on the grass and hugged her knees close to her. "They say it's fine as long as I'm spending the new year with a special friend."

"Does that mean I'm a special friend?"

Kiku felt herself blush slightly. "Well yes, if that's alright with Heracles-san."

Heracles pondered quietly on this for several minutes. Finally he said, "But what if I say you're not just my special friend, Kiku?"

Kiku could feel her heart freeze at the words but she trudged on forward bravely. "Then I guess if that's what Heracles-san thinks, then it's fine with me."

"Then it would be alright to say that I don't see you as a friend?"

"I-I guess."

"That I see you as more than a friend? That I like you, Kiku? Very much?"

"I gue—" Kiku stopped herself suddenly. She turned sharply to face Heracles. "Ehh?"

Heracles smiled at her warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners in a way, she realized with astonishment, she now knew very well. She swallowed thickly, all the blood in her rushing to her face. But despite the loud ringing in her ears, she forced herself to reply something,_anything_.

"Yes," she replied, softly, warmly. "That is completely fine with me."

Heracles leaned in closer then, so close that Kiku could hear his every word, even though he said them with nothing more than a whisper. "I like you Kiku. Very very much. I think sometimes it's more than just like, actually."

And then just like that, he closed the minute space between them and sealed his words with a kiss on her lips. She had felt this lips before on her skin, she knew that. But this, this was different—_this was so much lovelier_. His lips were warm and soft against hers, and when she didn't quite know what exactly to do with her hands, she ran them through his curls because his curls were soft and smooth and felt so _good_ between her fingers. And she liked the weight of his arms on her waist—_arms that looked like they could carry the world but carried kittens instead_.

Heracles only pulled away from her—and she blushed at the tiny squeak of disappointment that escaped from her lips—when they heard a loud booming sound from the distance.

"The fireworks," Heracles murmured. He looked up and watched them—_but his arms never left Kiku_, the bright colors raining down from the sky and washing over his face.

But Kiku didn't think she wanted to watch them anymore, not when she felt her own fireworks, shining behind her eyes and warming up her heart.

* * *

><p><strong><em>vi.<em>**

Afterwards, when the fireworks have burnt out and nothing was left of them but the smell of smoke and the memory of their sound ringing in everyone's ears, Heracles stood up and held his hand out to Kiku.

"I'll walk you home."

So Kiku took his hand, and did not let go as they walked home together.

She thought back to lazy Sunday mornings, back to manga with sparkling covers and hot pink bindings long creased.

If her life were anything like shoujo manga, this would have been their happy ending.

But then, this was real life (and this was but their beginning).

_end_

* * *

><p><em><em>Some Notes:

2. _Ame_: means rain in Japanese, if Google is to be trusted. I have no idea if it's possible to use this word as a name, but then I've seen pets with stranger names so yeah XD.


End file.
